National Negro Business League

The National Negro Business League was created by Booker T. Washington [3] in 1900 to encourage black entrepreneurs in the United States. While one of the most visible aspects of the league was its national leadership and structure, its foundation actually was based on local chapters at the municipal level that came together to form state organizations. By 1915 there were local chapters in 24 North Carolina communities, most of which had more than 1,000 residents.

The league primarily attracted the elite among North Carolina black businessmen. The cost of individual membership in the league, and the fact that participation in black fraternal societies such as the Masons [4] may have been more advantageous for black entrepreneurs, possibly discouraged many businessmen from joining. Prominent black businessmen who were leaders of the National Negro Business League in North Carolina included Richard Fitzgerald, owner of one of the state's largest brick-making firms; Berry O'Kelly, probably North Carolina's wealthiest black businessman during the early twentieth century; and Charles C. Spaulding [5], a director of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company [6].

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